During the past 12 months, the Irish financial services sector has reaped the rewards of new and amended legislation to facilitate additional financial services products and structures. Investment funds and securitisation and repackaging are just two of these areas.
In the investment funds arena, 2003′s introduction of the UCITS III Directives into law has resulted in significant advances in the range of products available to a promoter of UCITS Investment Schemes. Many new and innovative products have resulted, including funds of funds, funds with returns linked to hedge fund indices and those using significant volumes of derivatives within their portfolios. While this legislation was driven by the European Union (EU) Directive, the Irish authorities have led in rapidly and flexibly introducing the enacting legislation.
